Irvine Meadow 1 Auchinleck Talbot 3 as Tommy Sloan's side march on in South Challenge Cup

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Tenacious Talbot took care of Meadow for the FIFTH time this season to march on in the South Challenge Cup.Second half strikes from Aiden Wilson and Jamie Glasgow clinched victory as the visitors set up a fifth round showdown against Caledonian Braves in four days time.Tommy Sloan's men were far from their best in a scrappy, frankly forgettable tie at Meadow Park.But they still had enough in the tank to see off a shot-shy home side who scored from their only attempt on target in the entire 90 minutes.Having already done the league double over Meadow, and knocked them out of the Scottish Cup and Scottish Junior Cup, Talbot arrived in Irvine with a clear psychological edge.And with just four minutes on the clock they went in front, Gareth Armstrong heading home Bryan Boylan's hanging cross after the home defence made a mess of dealing with a corner kick.Meadow found it difficult to get out of their own half in the opening exchanges.

When they finally did break forward they were almost caught on the counter attack, Boylan forcing goalkeeper Marc Waters into a smart save at his near post.The hosts were a distant second best but they grabbed an equaliser against the run of play in first half-stoppage time.Defender Calum Gow, making his first start in two years after a nightmare battle with injury, steamed on to the end of a Mick Wardrope corner kick to bullet home a header and ensure the teams went in to the interval on level terms.It should have been the catalyst for Meadow to kick on in the second half but they never got going.Instead Talbot created the better chances.

Boylan fizzed a great ball across the face of goal in 52 minutes but there were no takers.The visitors did however regain the lead just after the hour mark.W